Emilia Galotti is one of the world’s popular plays that were created by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. The play which consists of five acts premiered in Brunswick in the month of March, 1772. Emilia Galotti and Intrigue and Love serve as good examples of bourgeois tragedy otherwise referred to as German burgerliches Trauerspiel. Emilia Galotti was formulated to showcase events and effects of German domestic tragedy. The play bears the mark of the ancient literary history as it puts great focus on social realism and freedom. Lessing and Schiller considered their plays and theatre itself a ‘school of the world of morals’. The goal of Lessing and Schiller’s storyline was on honing the moral awareness of the audience. Both plays seek to emphasize the importance of moral standards in a society and why immoral behavior results in unfortunate consequences. It is for this reason that Lessing focused on a hero’s tragic entanglement in guilt that later led to scenarios of self-imposed deaths. On the other hand, Schiller’s play on Intrigue and Love utilized the theme of domestic tragedy to describe the fate of Louis who finds herself as the object of desire of a man far above her social rank. Eventually, Louis consequentially suffers total renunciation from her own family. According to Fredrich Schiller and Ephraim Lessing, the moral of the heroines is central to the theme of domestic tragedy.
Thesis Statement
Emilia Galotti and Intrigue and love plays focus on bourgeois tragedy that affects two heroines whose mistake was to love wrong men. The storyline depicts a society that is separated in terms of social ranks, power, and religious affiliation. Emilia, who stars in Emilia Galotti play, chooses to die in order to protect herself from sexual immorality and impurity. Emilia’s father assists her to commit the heinous act as he strongly believes in his religious doctrine which condemns any form of sexual impurity. On the other hand, Louis, from the Intrigue and Love play dies after being poisoned by the person whom she loved. Louis faces condemnation after saving her parents from the ruthless hands of the President who opposes Louis’s relationship with his son because of the distinct levels of social rank. From the plays, Louis and Emilia sacrifice their own lives in order to protect their loved ones.
Compare Emilia with Louis and look for one other distinguishing aspect of the content
- Exposition
Emilia Galotti seeks to delineate newly emerging family relations in a bid to address the growing conflict between the bourgeoisie and aristocracy. Emilia Galotti, the star character of Emilia Galotti, plays a paramount role in showcasing the consequence of a person not abiding to the society’s moral standards. Emilia, whose name has been used as the title of the play, is faced with a daunting and arduous task of either choosing her family or her love interest. In the play, Emilia gets the attention of Prince of Gustalla who was popularly known as a frivolous and self-indulgent young bachelor. Influenced by his love for Emilia, the Prince sought to do anything possible to have Emilia. Knowing Emilia’s upcoming wedding, the Prince sought to delay the marriage from taking place through malicious means. Even though the Prince failed to destroy Emilia’s planned marriage, he was still determined to pursue Emilia. With the assistance of his ignorant and scheming chamberlain, the Prince managed to kidnap Emilia. During the fatal incidence of the kidnap, Appiani got killed. This follows a series of cases where Emilia’s close relatives got to visit and plead with the Prince.
Louis, the star character of Intrigue and Love plays a key role in showcasing the traditional German’s culture that discriminated love and relationships on the basis of one’s social class. Premiered in 1784 in Frankfurt, Schiller’s play focused on depicting a love affair between people belonging to two different social classes. In order to disrupt Ferdinand’s romantic involvement with Louis, the President used his powers to jail Louis’s parents. It is at this point that Louis was obliged to make a tough decision on ending her relationship with Ferdinand for the President to order for her parents’ jail release.
b. “Inciting Moment”
Emilia Galotti’ s play portrays some form of inciting moments when the Prince sought to do everything in his power to ensure that Emilia won’t get married to her then fiancé. Even though the Prince noticed Emilia’s beauty from a mere portrait, his actions to capture Emilia’s attention indicated some forms of incitement. His love at first sight for Emilia led him to perform unlawful acts in a bid to have Emilia as his lover. Driven by love and jealousy, the Prince sought for ways through which he could break off Emilia’s engagement to her fiancé by causing disruptions on Emilia’s marriage plans. Even though he did not succeed, the Prince still sought other means to forcefully destroy Emilia’s relationship with her fiancé. The Prince with the help of his evil chamberlain developed a master plan to kidnap Emilia. Further, Emilia’s father gets incited by Countess Orsina to avenge for Count Appiani’s murder. Countess Orsina incites Odoardo to stab the prince to death. However, Countess Orsina has her own evil motives of revenging against the prince who had harshly rejected her as a suitor.
Incitement matters in Intrigue and Love play is showcased when the President sent Louis’s parents to jail. The President unjustly used his powers to incite Louis off her relationship with his son, Ferdinand. The President believed that his son would marry a woman of equal social class. According to Ferdinand’s father, Lady Milford was the best choice for Ferdinand.
c. Rising Action
The rising action in Emilia Galotti’s play occurs after Emilia’s father was given the option to avenge for the Prince’s actions against the family. Odoardo’s decision against the Prince served as a great determinant for the entire play. Odoardo chose to leave vengeance for God as he also sought a way to resolve the issue between Emilia and Fernando.
The rising action in Intrigue and Love play occurs when Louis is given instructions on how she could save her parents from the jail sentence. Through his villainous secretary, The President gives Louis conditions regarding her parents release from jail. For Louis’ parents to enjoy freedom, the Wurm orders Louis to write a love letter to Lord Chamberlain von Kalb. Louis is left in a dubious situation on whether to retain her loyalty to her parents or Ferdinand, the president’s son.
d. Climax
The climax of Emilia Galotti’s play occurred when Emilia sought to convince her father to kill her. According to Emilia, dying was the only option through which she could save herself from sexual corruption as dictated by religious doctrines and patriarchal orders. Odoardo soon heeds to her daughter’s plead when he chose to kill her.
On the other hand, the climax moment on Intrigue and love is depicted when Louis agrees to write a letter to Lord Chamberlain von Kalb in exchange for her parents’ freedom. Wurm, the president’s secretary also forces Louis to swear the love letter was indeed written by her. This indicated an act of betrayal towards Ferdinand who disobeyed his father’s instructions to end his relationship with Louis.
e. Tragic Moment
The tragic moment in Emilia Galotti’s play occurred when Odoardo killed his daughter using a dagger. A father who really loves her daughter would never harm her or even think of the inhumane act of killing her. However, Odoardo who is blinded by religious doctrines agrees to kill her daughter with the hope of saving her from sexual immorality.
The tragic moment on Intrigue and Love happened after Ferdinand saw the love letter that was allegedly written by Louis to Lord Chamberlain. Ferdinand concluded that his love interest was indeed having a love affair with another man. After having sworn an oath, Louis could not defend herself from the fiery Ferdinand who became hurt and resentful. His resentment later on drove him to kill Louis using poison.
f. Falling Action
The falling action on Emilia Galotti’s play occurred when Odoardo realized the ordeal he had made after killing his own child. At this point, Odoardo is faced with guilt as he becomes appalled by his actions. Odoardo leaves the matter in the hands of the Prince who had the authority to decide whether to kill or imprison Emilia’s father.
The falling action on Intrigue and Love play occurred as Louis was dying from the poison administered by Ferdinand. As she was dying, Louis managed to reveal the truth to Ferdinand. Louis forgives Ferdinand, who as he also dies, forgives his father.
g. Moment of Final Suspense
The final suspense in Emilia Galotti’s play is with regards to whether the Prince got to know the reason as to why Odoardo killed his own daughter. The play also does not show the eventual happenings and reaction of the Prince after Emilia’s death.
On the other hand, the final suspense in the Intrigue and Love play is with regards to whether Louis forgave Ferdinand for not trusting her.
h. Denouement
As the tragic heroine, Emilia’s loyalty and emotional bond to her father is threatened by her love for a man who belongs to a socially superior group. Emilia Galotti that ends up with Emilia committing assisted suicide after having serious dilemma in choosing between love and duty, class and human emotions, and family and the outer world. Even though Emilia loved her man, she chose to commit suicide to evade the punishment that would occur after choosing her husband.
The Intrigue and Love play managed to provide a clear picture of how the society is discriminated in relation to various social classes. The wealthy are obliged to relate with the wealthy whereas it is normal for the poor to relate only with the poor. This reality was clearly showcased by Louis who fell in love with the President’s son, Ferdinand. However, Louis’s father Mr. Miller is heavily concerned about her daughter’s romantic relationship with the President’s son. Likewise, Ferdinand’s father is strictly against the developing romantic relationship between his son and Louis. The President rejects Louis as a potential daughter-in-law simply because she is from a poor family.